Elliot Dunbar was nothing special. She was socially awkward, got average grades, and wasn't very good at sports. But then she attends a party, dragged there by her twin sister, and Elliot and her best friend, Lana, become Guardians; mystical beings with magical powers, tasked with protecting the ten world from demons, beings from the void between worlds.

Eyes desperately looking up at the clock on the wall, the watch on their wrist, the window outside.

Twenty minutes left.

In the middle of it all, Elliot Dunbar tapped her fingers on her desk lightly, her pen resting next to them, her test upside down in the corner of her desk.

She'd finished ten minutes ago.

Eighteen minutes left.

Her leg bounced underneath the desk, and her eyes landed on the teacher, who sat behind his desk in the corner of the room. He was marking the tests of another class, the one that went before the one she was sitting in.

Her eyes—one blue, the other brown—moved to the boy sitting in front of her. Grey hair cut short, military-style. He was still hunched over his test, and it looked like he was struggling with a question.

Fifteen minutes left.

Kai was his name. Kai Davenport. American, moved to Carnarton about a week earlier. He was still getting used to Australian terms and such. His parents didn't realise they moved three weeks before the two week winter holidays. This was the last test of both the term and the semester.

Elliot would pass it with flying colours.

Twelve minutes left.

It was boring, during these times. She always finished her test early, and she just had to sit there and wait until the period was over before she could do anything.

She wanted to go on her phone.

Ten minutes left.

Next to her, Nelly White put down her pen and flipped her test over, then leant back in her chair. Light brown eyes and chestnut hair tied in a plait. Elliot liked Nelly. She wasn't afraid to speak up for herself, and proved that cheerleaders weren't like the stereotypes you saw on American TV shows. She was tough, and could pack a punch.

She should know. She angered her a couple weeks ago and punched her in the face. The bruising had only just faded.

Seven minutes left.

More people around her were putting down their pens and flipping their tests, including Kai, who had passed the question he was struggling on. He turned to face the window, to look out at the grass and most likely thinking about freedom. It was the last period of the day.

There was a party after school, for someone's birthday. Zachary Claremont. He was nice. He invited everyone he could to it, no matter if he knew them or not. Elliot was lucky enough to know him slightly. They were partnered together in Hospitality, so when he had invited everyone she asked why he did it.

He said everyone deserved to have fun, not just his friends. It was lucky that his parents were rich, too, being the owners of Claremont Technologies.

Three minutes left.

Elliot yawned. She was getting tired. Time was going too slow. Nelly was starting to draw on the back of her test, and Kai had looked away from the window and was resting his head on the desk, like he was going to fall asleep.

The teacher, Mr Thornton, looked up from the tests he was marking to check the time. He started putting everything away.

Two minutes left.

"If you have completed your test," Mr Thornton said, standing up from his desk to address the class, "please place it face-down at the top of your desk. If you haven't, there is still two minutes left."

One kid let out a shriek and hurried with his test. Everyone else did as the teacher said and moved the tests to the top of their desks. He was the only one still doing the test.

One minute left.

He managed to finish the test. He pushed the test to the top of his desk as he let out a sigh. The teacher started collected them.

The bell sounded, and everyone stood up.

Elliot grabbed her bag and pulled it over her shoulder. It was heavy, but she was used to it. She left the class, not caring to say goodbye to anyone. She didn't really know any of them; her best friend, Lana Amsterdam, wasn't in her maths class, of which she deeply despised.

"How was class?"

Elliot looked up from the ground to see her twin sister, Hana, walking next to her. They were similar, but they weren't identical; they both had red hair, but Hana's was almost straight and went to the small of her back while Elliot's was in tight ringlets and ended just passed her shoulders. Hana's eyes were a bright blue while Elliot had heterochromia iridum, one eye being a cerulean blue and the other a dark brown. Other than that, though, you couldn't tell them apart.

"We had a test."

Hana hissed. "I hate tests."

Elliot shrugged a shoulder. "I don't mind them."

Her twin rolled her eyes. "How am I related to you? Hey, are you going to Zach's party tonight?"

She shrugged her shoulder again. "Dunno. It's not my scene."

"Again, how am I related to you?" Hana asked, a teasing tone to her voice.

Though the twins looked similar, that was the only thing that they shared. Elliot was an introvert and Hana was an extrovert. She loved parties, while Elliot found her adrenaline in living other people's lives through books and TV shows, though mostly books. She loved reading, her sister not-so-much. She preferred to party than sit in a quiet room and read for hours on end. She had to be moving, doing something, to stimulate her mind. It was impossible for her to sit still.

"Come on," Hana said, pouting. "It'll be fun."

"We have two different definitions of the word fun, Hana."

"I'll get you tic tacs."

"We have a deal," Elliot said immediately.

Hana smirked. If she wanted something from Elliot, all she had to do was bribe her with tic tacs.

As soon as the twins got home, Elliot got dressed into her casual wear—meaning, a pair of dark green khakis and her blue 'KEEP CALM AND CALL THE DOCTOR' shirt. She disregarded all the homework she'd been assigned that day and hopped onto her computer, which she wanted to stay on until it was time for her and Hana to head to Zachary's party.

A knock sounded on her door, and when she told the person to come in, it opened. Her father, Paul, was standing there, having just got home from his job at the nearby shopping centre. His brown hair was short, and his blue eyes sparkled.

"Hana tells me you're going to a party tonight," he said, a smirk on his face.

"She's giving me tic tacs if I go with her."

Paul nodded. "Well, tell me if she doesn't. I'll give you some if she doesn't."

"Thanks, Pa."

He left, closing the door behind him.

Elliot turned back to her computer as the door opened again, this time Hana coming through.

"What do you want?" Elliot asked, not looking away from her computer.

Hana sat on her sister's bed. "I know you're going to go to the party in normal everyday clothes, and I'm here to pick out some more party-appropriate clothes for you."

"I don't have party-appropriate clothes."

"I know," she said, and she pulled Elliot to her feet. "That's why you're going to be borrowing my clothes."

Elliot started to groan, but Hana held a finger up.

"I'll give you more tic tacs…"

"Uh, fine!"

Hana let out a squeal of delight and pulled Elliot out of the room. She led her down the hallway and into her own room, where she had already laid out several pairs of outfits on her bed for her sister to try.

Elliot groaned. She regretted agreeing to go to the party already.

Six o'clock came round, and Hana and Elliot's mother, Alicia, dropped the twins off at the manor on the outskirts of Carnarton that the Claremont family resided in. They only recently bought the house, so no one at school had seen it yet.

On the invitation Zachary had handed them, it had said that there was a raffle for everyone that attended. Nine people would get to check out the basement with him, since he hadn't been down there yet, and it was an old building, so who knew what was down there. Elliot didn't particularly want to go down, but what was the chance that she'd get picked?

The party was already in full-swing when they got there. After Alicia bid them a good night, they made their way up the driveway, the music loud enough to be heard from out there.

Elliot had been to only one of his parties, and that was several years earlier. She had to call Paul to come pick her up early so she didn't have a panic attack.

Hana better give her a lot of tic tacs.

Her sister had managed to talk her into wearing a black leather tank top and a pair of short-shorts. She felt exposed, as she usually wore comfortable stuff with no regard with how it looked. It was her sister that usually wore that stuff, and it was evident in the black crop top, waist-high short-shorts, and inch-high high heels. Elliot had, thankfully, talked her out of making her wear high heels herself.

It was crowded inside. People were dancing and having fun, plastic cups in hand full of different kinds of soft drinks. On the invitation, it said there wasn't going to be any alcohol, and no one could bring their own. Elliot was glad of that. She may have hated people in general, but she hated drunk people more.

Hana left her when she saw a group of her friends. Rubbing her exposed arm, she pushed her way through the people, trying to find the food table so she could sit by it and eat the night away. She didn't really have friends, as she tended to rub people the wrong way with her bluntness, but there were a lot of people there that she recognised and she didn't dislike, so that was good.

She found the food table in the living room and made a beeline towards it. The cake had already been cut, and there were only a few slices left. There was a second cake, though, still uncut, and there was no doubt more cake in the fridge. She picked up one of the pieces of chocolate mud and a fork, and started digging in.

Kai came up to the table to refill his drink.

"Great party, huh?"

She shrugged. "I just got here."

He held up one of the bottles of soft drink and looked at it in confusion. "Lift. What is that?"

"It's a lemon drink," she said. "It's good. Try it."

He let out a laugh. "Well, I've been told you always tell the blunt truth, so I guess I will." He unscrewed the cap and began pouring it into his cup.

She furrowed her brow. "Who told you that?"

He put the bottle down and looked at her, his eyes grey like his hair and flecked with gold. They were quite pretty. "You are Elliot Dunbar, right?" She nodded. "Well, I befriended a guy called Clark. He gave me a rundown of all the 'weirdos' to avoid, and you were on the list." He scoffed. "I told him to fuck off if he's going to say things like that and stormed off. I think I made an enemy."

She put her plate down on the table, her face red. She knew Clark Venice. He was the only person that had never been invited to Zachary's parties, even when they were in primary school. He'd always been a bully, and Zachary didn't like bullies.

Kai took a sip of his Lift and his face scrunched up. He coughed and put the drink down. "That's bitter!"

She shrugged. "I like it. If you want a drink like it that's sweet try either Solo or Lemon Squash. I prefer Lift, though."

"No, I like it," he said, "I just didn't expect it to be bitter."

She rolled her eyes. "It's a lemon drink, what'd you expect?"

He laughed, though she didn't see how it was funny. He picked up the cup. "I'll see you at school."

He then walked off.

She poured her own cup of Lift and sipped at it as she ate her piece of cake, hoping to avoid anymore interactions before it was socially acceptable for her to leave. She was already sick of it, and she'd only been there for a couple minutes.

She sighed as she took another sip of her drink. It was going to be a long night.

Hello, and welcome to Guardians! How'd you like the chapter? I tried to make it as interesting as possible, but it can sometimes slip and become a bit of a bore XD.

Please R&R, and I update every Wednesday!

~ NotLikeYouThink01

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